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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Ningaloo Reef location page.
Overview
The HMAS Hobart (D 39), a former Royal Australian Navy guided missile destroyer, was scuttled in 2002 to create an artificial reef. Lying upright in Yankalilla Bay, South Australia, the 134-meter wreck is a prominent dive site. Its accessible decks, bridge, and engine room, combined with the gun turrets and missile launchers, provide an intriguing exploration for advanced divers. The vessel's structure has become a vibrant habitat for temperate marine life, including schools of fish, blue devils, and various invertebrates, making it a significant attraction for wreck and marine life enthusiasts.
What you'll see
5 species curated- year-roundLeatherjackets
- year-roundOld Wives
- year-roundMorwong
- year-roundOctopus
- year-roundBlue Devils
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceLeatherjackets
- Last confirmed
- Apr 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 19–22 °C | 15–20 m | mild |
| Feb | 19–22 °C | 15–20 m | mild |
| Mar | 18–21 °C | 15–18 m | mild |
| Apr | 17–19 °C | 12–16 m | mild |
| May | 16–18 °C | 10–15 m | mild |
| Jun | 14–16 °C | 8–12 m | mild |
| Jul | 13–15 °C | 8–12 m | mild |
| Aug | 13–15 °C | 8–12 m | mild |
| Sep | 14–16 °C | 10–15 m | mild |
| Oct | 15–18 °C | 12–16 m | mild |
| Nov | 17–20 °C | 15–18 m | mild |
| Dec | 18–21 °C | 15–20 m | mild |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Next step
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